1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a live practice round for use in revolvers and like firearms which propels a non-lethal projectile to mark the point of impact.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There has existed the need for a realistic and safe practice round to be fired in actual or modified firearms. Primary groups which would use such non-lethal rounds in practice are the military, law enforcement, movie makers and participants in war games. Practice rounds used by the above organizations and others have safety as a primary objective. The ideal round would fire a projectile that would travel a reasonably predictable path, would be non-injurious to any person or thing being struck and would mark the point of impact. Additionally, the round should be adapted for use in standard weapons so as to give the user the actual "feel" for his own firearm while doing away with the cost of buying special weapons for practice. Additionally, the practice round itself should be as inexpensive as possible so as to reduce the overall cost of practicing.
At the present time there are available for practice, blank rounds which fire no projectile and laser guns which fire no projectile but which have the impact point indicated by detectors positioned on the target. The blank or "dummy" rounds are not effective since they give no indication where the user is hitting and the laser guns are expensive, somewhat cumbersome and fail to give the user the actual feel for the weapon he ultimately will use in actual combat or law enforcement situations.
CO.sub.2 pistols are also used in practice to propel a ball containing dye at a target. The dye ball breaks on impact to mark the hit. While these weapons indicate whether the target is hit or not, they are somewhat unrealistic since they are specially designed for firing the CO.sub.2 propelled ball. Thus while a projectile is fired and the point of impact is indicated, still there remains much to be desired in training an individual in as near a real situation as possible.
It is the purpose of the present invention to provide a practice round of the non-lethal type which can be used with either unmodified or slightly modified firearms to propel a projectile capable of marking the point of impact with such rounds being reasonably inexpensive and having a sufficiently low muzzle velocity so as to significantly reduce chance of injury if a person is struck at close range.